good sources of calcium. Calcium-fortified foods, such as some orange juices and breakfast cereals, also provide significant amounts of calcium, especially for women who do not eat dairy products. During pregnancy, you should consume at least four servings of calcium-rich foods a day, or the equivalent of one quart of milk. Round off your diet with a recommended prenatal supplement.

Talkin' turkey

From Minsun's pregnancy diary when she was preparing Thanksgiving dinner:

As I took our 11-pound bird out of the fridge and unwrapped it, I felt disconcerted as I realized that I was beginning to bear an alarming resemblance to a butterball turkey. After all, we are both all breasts and belly, perched precariously atop feeble drumsticks. And as I applied butter to the skin to keep it moist, I couldn't help recalling all the cocoa butter I smeared on my own skin this morning. Yet this resemblance comes as a relief. After weeks of looking kind of fat, it's nice to finally look kind of pregnant. This change took place literally overnight, as if my belly was an unpopped kernel of corn that finally popped.

Another reason to not imbibe

Despite public-information campaigns and physician advice about alcohol consumption during pregnancy, between 15 and 25 percent of pregnant women continue to drink each month, and five to 10 out of 1,000 pregnant women drink an average of seven or more drinks per week.

Most research on the damaging effects of fetal alcohol exposure has been on the developing brain. A study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has found that drinking during pregnancy can also increase the risk of infection in newborns. Read more here.

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